Posting Your Resume on YouTubeTo Stand Out From the Competition

By

Anjali Athavaley

Updated March 24, 2008 3:27 p.m. ET

Originally published December 7, 2006

Baker Tee is a job-hunting pioneer.

Last May, when the University of Illinois graduate was looking for an engineering job, a recruiting firm convinced him to make a video resume. Shot at a professional studio, it featured Mr. Tee, 28, answering five short questions about why he'd make a good employee. Asked why he wanted a career in structural engineering, for example, he answered that he is a "natural problem solver." The service then emailed prospective employers a link to the video. He ended up getting four job offers and accepting one of them, he says.

Though the practice is still in its early stages, young job hunters are starting to make a video clip part of their job application, sometimes even posting them on sites like Google Inc.'s YouTube and Google Video. Jobster.com, a Web site for job seekers, is exploring the possibility of enabling users to add short video clips to online member profiles. At the same time, smaller companies hoping to ride the popularity of online video are rolling out services that make it easier to create a video resume.

So far, the video resumes featured on YouTube have been posted mostly by people in entertainment or media. But job seekers in different industries are starting to make videos through professional services, and recruiters say that as online video takes off, the trend is poised to grow -- especially among younger workers, like Mr. Tee.

"It's almost like the pageant world meeting the business world," says Sarah White, president and owner of White Consulting Group, a Kenosha, Wis., consulting firm that works with small and midsize businesses. Job candidates who submit video clips usually use them to supplement a standard resume. The videos, which are typically no more than a few minutes long, give applicants a more direct way to sell themselves.

They also help employers decide whom to bring into the office for a face-to-face interview, Ms. White says, which could save them time and money. "They might have 10 videos they can watch in half an hour, rather than bring in 10 people that will take two to three days to interview."

Holding many job seekers back, though, is the fear of making a fool of oneself -- or worse, sabotaging one's career. That's what happened recently to Aleksey Vayner, a Yale University student who applied for an investment-banking job with Swiss bank UBS AG. His video resume -- which was entitled "Impossible Is Nothing" and featured him lifting weights, showing off his tennis serve and ballroom dancing -- was widely watched on YouTube and made Mr. Vayner an object of ridicule. He didn't get the job, and UBS is conducting an in-house inquiry into whether the link to the video was leaked by an employee.

The possibility of a pratfall isn't holding back James Wieland, a 34-year-old weatherman who began his job search a few months ago by posting a two-minute video resume on YouTube. The video consists of his weather-report clips, with comments such as "Looking for Personality?" and background music added. When he applies for a job, he emails employers links to the video as well as his Web site. He says he's had a few callbacks from news directors who want to see his full videotape, but no job offers yet.

"Any kind of publicity is good publicity, especially when you need a job," says Mr. Wieland, who lives in Baltimore.

Other job hunters take a more creative approach to their video resumes. When he was looking for a job as a writer's assistant, Jonathan Caren, 25, posted a two-minute video resume on YouTube and emailed the link, along with an attachment of his paper resume, to virtually everyone he knew. The homemade video features Mr. Caren, of Los Angeles, jumping out of bed with a grin on his face and reading over scripts while brushing his teeth. In another scene, he shows off his money-making prowess by holding up a sack with a dollar sign.

"I wasn't trying to make it look high-quality," says Mr. Caren, who now works for Winnie Holzman, a television writer who also wrote the book for the popular musical "Wicked." "I wanted it to be fun and lighthearted."

Despite the potential hazards, some in the recruiting industry are betting that the practice will blossom. "You have this perfect storm of more people with broadband connections, more adoption of home video technology, more people who have viewed video online and more people who have created video online," says Jason Goldberg, CEO of Jobster.com.

Some smaller players are already jumping into the fray. RecruitTV, a division of Chicago-based recruitment-services firm Wetjello, now allows job-seekers to upload free video profiles they can email in a link to employers. Las Vegas-based JobBait.com recently started testing a service in which candidates can send in video resumes and have them professionally edited. Interactive Video Technologies, a Los Angeles company that provides tools for creating online-video content to companies, plans to expand its services to individuals later this month.

Many employers and third-party recruiters remain wary of the concept of video resumes. Those who oppose it say that turning down candidates for interviews after seeing what they look and sound like on video could leave employers open to discrimination lawsuits. When job candidates send in photos of themselves, most employers throw them out for the same reason.

"I think if there were rulings saying it's OK to do it, or if there were guidelines that were laid out, more would adopt it," says Kevin Wheeler, president of Global Learning Resources Inc., a management consulting firm based in Fremont, Calif. But, he adds, "if you sent me the link, it'd be very difficult not to click on the link."

An increasing number of companies are already using video clips to help recruit job seekers. Cingular Wireless, a joint venture between AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp.; Home Depot Inc.; and Boston Scientific Corp. have posted videos touting their work environment on sites like Monster Worldwide Inc.'s Monster.com. The popular job-hunting Web site started allowing employers to post video content last year; so far, some 50 companies have done so.

Some employers welcome video resumes from job candidates. The resumes can help distinguish entry-level job seekers -- especially recent college graduates -- who don't have a long list of accomplishments to show off, says Jay Lehman, national director of recruiting for Toll Brothers Inc., a luxury home builder based in Horsham, Pa.

Toll Brothers uses video resumes to evaluate job candidates who apply to its engineering division. Job seekers are not required to make a video, but Mr. Lehman says it often helps. "You can see how well they prepared and that they were willing to go to the extra length and make a video," he says.

That was the case with Mr. Tee, the engineer. His bosses at O'Donnell, Naccarato, and MacIntosh, a structural engineering firm in Wilmington, Del., told him they were surprised that an engineer was willing to get in front of a camera. When he went into their office for an in-person interview, "it was almost like a second interview," he says. "They had already seen me so they were comfortable with me."

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